Receptacle and method of making it



' 1945- w. J. DE wrr-r RECEPTACLE AND METHOD OF MAKING IT Filed Aug. 6, 1943 Patented Nov. 27, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE RECEPTACLE AND METHOD OF MAKING IT William J. De Witt, Auburn, N. Y., assignor m Shoe Form 00., Inc., Auburn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 6, 1943, Serial No. 497,578

2 Claims.

When making boxes or similar receptacles from assembled blanks of sheet material, it is customary to form each corner (at which two of the blanks are united) by folding one blank to provide it with a marginal attaching flap disposed substantially at right angles to the body portion of the blank, and then to lap this flap over the outer surface of the marginal portion of the adjacent blank and adhesively to attach it to the latter. second blank may abut the first blank along the line of fold but the only effective area on which the adhesive acts is that afforded by the flap. It is not desirable to increase the width of the fla unduly, not only for the sake of appearance but also to save material and thus as a practical matter the size of the adhesive area is limited. Since the flap is easily flexible about its line of fold, the corner thus formed is readily distorted from a right angle, and such distortion may impose so much stress upon the adhesive union between the parts as to cause their separation. Furthermore, a corner formed as above described lacks stiffness, as respects resistance to deformation from a right angle, and also in the direction of its length, since it nowhere includes more than two thicknesses of the sheet material.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a strong, stiff, and durable corner construction wherein the area for the action of the adhesive is made more effective (as compared with prior constructions) but Without necessitating any substantial increase in the width of the attaching flap; the improved construction is such as to resist deformation of the corner from a right angle more strongly than the usual prior arrangement, and also provides substantial stiffness and rigidity in the direction of the length of the corner.

Other features of novelty and objects of the invention will be pointed out in the following more detailed description and by reference to the drawing wherein Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a rectangu As thus assembled, the thin edge of the lar box made in accordance with the present in-- vention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view, to somewhat larger scale, showing the construction of one of the lower corners of the box;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section, to still larger scale, showing one margin of one of the end members of the box before assembly; and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing the end member assembled with and united to the body member.

Referring to the drawing, the box I here chosen for illustration comprises the parallel side members 2 and 3, the bottom 4 and the end members 6 and I. As here illustrated, the side members 2 and 3 are integral with the bottom 4, these parts being made by suitably bending an integral length of the material or body blank along the lines 5. While the invention is not limited to the making of receptacles or boxes from sheet Celluloid, it is primarily directed to boxes of this or similar material since the problems involved in dealing with this or like materials are somewhat different from those involved in making receptacles from materials of wholly different character. Preferably when the receptacle is to be used as a protective cover, the material employed will be transparent in order to exhibit the article being protected.

In accordance with the present invention, the end members 6 and 1, which are identical in construction, are also made from material, usually such as that employed in forming the body blank. Each of these end members 6 and I is made from a substantially rectangular blank whose side and bottom margins are shaped by suitable treatment to form channels for the reception of the side and bottom edges of the body blank. This ing the material may be employed, if preferred,

such, for example, as softening the material by treatment with acetone or the like and shaping it while soft. As illustrated in Fig. 3 by way of example, the marginal portion of the end memher 6 is shaped to provide substantially parallel flanges 8' and 9 integrally united by a U-shaped bend Ill and forming the opposite walls of a channel H, the width of this channel substantially a body portion of the end member 8 at substantially right angles to the latter, and the flange member -8 is preferably somewhat wider than the flange member 8 so that its end I! is spaced inwardly from the inner surface of the member 6. The smoothly rounded, outwardly projecting bead thus formed extends uninterruptedly along the side and bottom edges of the end member 8. Hav. ing .provided the end members 6 and I with their marginal channel-forming beads, the end members are assembled with the body member by inserting the edges of the parts 2, 3 and 4 into the-corresponding portions of the channels in the end members so that the extreme edges 8, 4, etc. of the body blank seat in the U-shaped bend l8 of the end member. Prior to introducin the marginal edges of the body blank into the channel, the margin of the body blank may be made to become adhesive either by the application of an appropriate cement or by treatment bottom and spaced parallel sides integrally joined to the bottom and having a pair of like and members of still moldable shape-retaining sheet material, each end member having its bottom and side margins so permanently shaped as to provide two parallel flange members each perpendicular to the plane of the body portion of the respective end member, the first of said flanges being integrally united by a right angle bend to said body portion of the end member and the second flange being integrally joined to the first by a U-bend of a radius exceeding the thickness of the sheet material and forming a smoothly rounded external bead, the flanges being spaced apart to provide a channel of a width equalling the thickness of the material forming the bottom and side walls of the receptacle, the second of the flanges being wider than the first so that it extends beyond the plane of the inner surface of the end member, the margins of the bottom and side walls being disposed in the channels of the respective end members, and means coextensive with the areas of said flanges permanently unitassembled position until the adhesive has set or surface of the end member 6 it constitutes a stifiening rib extending around three sides of the box, greatly adding to the stillness and rigidity of the latter. Likewise, since the body member contacts the inner surface of both of parts 8 and 9 of the end member as well as the inner surface of the bend III, the area for adhesive union is much more effective than in usual constructions, and thus the resistance to separation as well as the resistance to deformation of the comer from a right angle is greatly increased.

While as herein illustrated the invention is incorporated in a rectangular box, it is obvious that the same principle of corner formation ing the bottom and side walls to the end members.

2. A substantially rectangular box consisting of three pieces of transparent sheet Celluloid or the like which is still, moldable and normally shape retaining, one of said parts forming the bottom and side walls of the receptacle and the other parts forming the opposite ends respectively of the receptacle, the bottom and side margins of said end pieces being permanently shaped to provide two parallel marginal flanges each perpendicular to the plane of the body portion of the respective end members, the first of said flanges being integrally joined to the body portion of the end member and extending outwardly from the plane of the latter at right angles, the second flange being united to the outer edge of the first by an integral U-bend forming an outwardly projecting, smoothly convex head, the second flange being wider than the first so that its free edge is in a plane spaced inwardly from the inner surface of the body portion of the end member, the flanges being permanently spaced to provide a channel of a width substantially equalling the thickness of the material of the bottom and side walls, the margins of the latter being disposed within said channels with their edges seated in the U-bend, said margins of the bottom and side walls being integrally coalesced with the material of the flanges.

WILLIAMJ. DE WITT. 

